EVA Air launched service to Sendai today, and celebrated the opening of its newest passenger gateway with a festive ribbon-cutting send-off at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport.  Taiwan Tourism Bureau Deputy Director General Mr. M. H. Hsu hosted the event, and all 212 passengers boarding the full flight for the trip to the Japanese city joined in, including a Japanese congressman and a council representative from the city of Sendai.

The Vice Governor of Miyagi Prefecture where Sendai is located, in addition to 146 Japanese and 22 Taiwanese passengers took the return inaugural flight back to Taiwan.

EVA is flying two round-trips per week on the new route using a Boeing B767-200 configured with 12 seats in Business Class and 200 in Economy.  Flight BR118 departs Taipei every Wednesday and Sunday at 10:05 (10:05 a.m.), arriving at Sendai's international airport at 14:25 (2:25 p.m.).  Return flight BR117 leaves Sendai at 16:25 (4:25 p.m.) and arrives back in Taipei at 19:05 (7:05 p.m.).  Flight time in both directions is three- and one-half hour.    "EVA Air's Taipei-Sendai service has been welcomed enthusiastically by travelers in both Japan and Taiwan," said K.W. Nieh, senior vice president, EVA Air.  "Including our inaugural trip, our first five outbound flights are almost fully booked and return flights are at 95%."    The carrier is working with travel agents to promote the coastal city in addition to creating one of its flexible Evergreen Holidays for individual Sendai-bound passengers that can be used for quick, easy getaways or combined with similar packages to include additional destinations.  Marketing efforts in cooperation with Sendai travel agents have already resulted in strong bookings from Japanese tourists wanting to take Taiwan tours, too.    "We are enhancing services on this route by working with travel agents to design special tour packages featuring Sendai and highlighting its dining and hot spring attractions, " Nieh added.  "We are also diversifying EVA trip products so that travelers can combine Sendai with Tokyo or one of our other gateways in Japan."    The inaugural flight was welcomed to the Sendai International Airport with a special ceremony followed by a dinner party that the local transportation authority hosted.  The first flight from Sendai back to Taipei was greeted by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, which presented small gifts of tourism stamps and Taiwanese snacks to all the arriving passengers.  The Sendai transportation authority is also sending a delegation to Taiwan to explore the country's tourist attractions and visit EVA Air.       Sendai is the largest city in northeastern Honshu, Japan due north of Tokyo along the Pacific Coast.  In addition to Sendai and Tokyo, EVA also flies to Sapporo, Osaka and Fukuoka in Japan.  Sendai is the 44th destination in the airline's global network of destinations on four continents and Oceania, and adds another link in the carrier's already well-developed Asian gateway system.